How to Remove Firebase from a Unity Project

When working with Firebase and Unity, you might encounter a situation where you need to remove the Firebase SDK and related files from your Unity project. This is often what people mean when asking "How do I delete a Firebase project in Unity," although deleting the actual Firebase project resource is a separate action performed outside of Unity.

This guide focuses on the process of cleaning up and removing the Firebase integration files from your Unity project, based on practical advice.

Removing Firebase Files from Your Unity Project

Removing Firebase from your Unity project involves deleting the relevant SDK files and ensuring that Unity doesn't regenerate unwanted components. This requires carefully deleting specific folders and potentially using source control to manage generated files.

Here's a process you can follow:

1. Close Unity: Before making changes to project files, always close the Unity editor to prevent issues.
2. Delete Firebase Folders: Navigate to your Unity project folder in your file explorer. You will need to delete directories that contain the Firebase SDK. Common locations include:
   • Assets/Firebase
   • Assets/Plugins/Android/Firebase
   • Assets/Plugins/iOS/Firebase
   • Assets/ExternalDependencyManager or Assets/PlayServicesResolver (These manage dependencies for Firebase and other Google services).
   • Delete any other folders explicitly related to Firebase you find within Assets.
3. Open Unity: Launch your Unity project again. Unity might regenerate some .dll files or other assets related to the libraries that were just removed, or might show errors.
4. Close Unity Again: Once Unity has finished importing and potentially showing errors, close it again.
5. Clean Generated Files (using Source Control is recommended): The reference specifically mentions:

   After closing Unity, delete all Firebase related folders. Open Unity, it will regenerate some dll's. Close Unity and remove generated files by discarding changes using source control. Repeat open-close Unity and delete generated files.
   If you are using source control (like Git), check your changes. You will likely see newly generated files in folders like Assets/Plugins. Discard these changes. This helps ensure that only the files you explicitly want are kept.
   If you are not using source control, you might need to manually identify and delete newly generated Firebase-related files in Assets/Plugins or other locations. This can be tricky, which is why source control is highly recommended for this step.

6. Repeat if Necessary: The reference suggests repeating the process of opening and closing Unity and discarding generated files. This might be needed if Unity's dependency resolution process takes multiple passes or generates different files upon subsequent opens.

By following these steps, you effectively remove the Firebase SDK and its associated files from your Unity project, cleaning up your project environment.

Deleting the Firebase Project Resource

It's important to understand that removing Firebase files from your Unity project does not delete the actual Firebase project resource. The Firebase project, which contains your database, storage, authentication data, etc., exists on Google Cloud Platform/Firebase Console.

To permanently delete the Firebase project resource itself:

1. Go to the Firebase Console (console.firebase.google.com).
2. Select the project you wish to delete.
3. Go to Project settings (the gear icon).
4. Scroll down to the General tab.
5. Click Delete project.
6. Follow the on-screen instructions to confirm the deletion.

Note: Deleting a Firebase project is permanent and irreversible. All data and resources associated with the project will be lost.

In summary, removing Firebase from your Unity project involves deleting specific SDK files within your project's Assets folder, while deleting the Firebase project resource is a separate action performed via the Firebase Console.